Four for a Lifetime
by filesfreak4life
Summary: They met at four, at seven he said he was going to marry her, and they've been through everything together... how will the tale end?  LEYTON... mostly fluffy.
1. The Early Years

**Okay, so… here is the latest endeavor for me… I'm bound and determined to go through and write a fic about Lucas and Peyton growing up together, and so far, I feel like I'm getting it. I'm trying not to jump too far in any given spot, so this first chapter takes us to about 6****th**** gradeish… we shall see how I feel about the whole thing as I get going!**

**Let me know what you are thinking and Review! Let me know if there are some things that you would like to see happen and see added in. A lot of stuff that I'm adding in are just random things that I wish I could have seen, or things that make the friendship between the pair grow a little bit closer.**

They were four when they first met. Karen Roe had overcome everything to be a successful café owner in town, and Anna Sawyer had overcome everything to finally be a mother.

When Anna first walked into Karen's café with a little blonde girl at her side, she didn't know that she was meeting someone who would always be there for her and her daughter. With her husband gone so often on drudging trips, it seemed like she needed to know there was someone there for her.

"Hello!" Karen says, welcoming the woman she had seen in passing around town.

"Karen, right?" Anna says, gesturing to the front sign with her free hand.

"Right, and who might this be?" Karen says, leaning over the counter to acknowledge the little girl with an iron grip on her mother's hand.

"Peyton…" she says in the smallest voice possible.

Karen comes around the corner, and kneeling next to the little girl holds out two cupcakes and gestures over to the table in the corner, where a little boy sat with legos and blocks strewn about. "Well, Peyton, that is Lucas. Would you like to sit with him and have a cupcake?"

The little girl looks to her mother for permission and after receiving a nod makes her way over to the little boy.

He smiles and puts out his hand to shake hers just like his mom taught him, proclaiming his name to be Lucas Eugene Scott. This sends her into a fit of giggles that he is mesmerized by. He soon finds himself giggling too, and the two mothers look on with smiles.

That became a weekly ritual for Anna and Karen as well as Peyton and Lucas. The kids would play at the corner table while Karen and Anna had their adult conversations at the long bar in the café.

When the kids started elementary school, it was no different, only that they switched from the middle of the week to Saturdays. The kids did their weekend homework, ate their cupcakes, and played.

When Anna needed a moment to herself, she called Karen to take Peyton for a bit, and vis versa. Keith soon became a great father figure in both the kids' lives, but was also good friends with Larry Sawyer. Larry viewed him as a good man who could keep an eye on Anna and Peyton while he was away at sea.

The rest of the week found the pair always together as well, staying at each other's houses after school nearly every day while they were younger. They all joked at the table about who was going to foot the bill for the inevitable Sawyer/Scott wedding somewhere down the line. In the second grade, it was Lucas who first brought up the fact that he was getting married to Peyton while they were playing with each other after school. His only explanation was that she was the only cool girl that he knew, so he better tell her now before someone else takes her away from him.

"Well, that explains that." Anna says, laughing as Lucas heads back outside after his proclamation of marriage to the other seven year old.

"What are we going to do with those two?" Keith asks from his spot by the door as he watched the two kids play out in the yard after school.

"I think it's sweet. Peyton said that there was a boy who stuck his tongue out at her the other day, and when she told Lucas he took care of it." She says with the last few words in air quotes.

Karen is the first to raise an eyebrow, "What exactly does that mean?"

"I don't' know, but she says the boy won't even look at her anymore."

"Nice." Keith says with a smile. "I guess that means I taught him well about protecting his girls.

"Does protecting include, fixing things around the house, like the pipe in the bathroom that you seem to be stalling about?" Karen says and laughs as he retreats back into the house.

"I've got a nasty pipe over at our place too, and Larry isn't due back for a few more weeks… you think you could spare your handy man?"

"I'm sure that he'd come and help out. I think that he'd do anything for you and that little girl. She's got both of them wrapped around her little finger."

"And what about you?" Anna says, with a glint in her eye.

"What do you mean?" Karen asks, completely confused by the question.

"Oh come on Karen, I've known you for what… three years now, and you're going to sit there and act like you don't have Keith wrapped around _your_ little finger too?"

"Anna, come on…"

"I'm serious! You can't tell me you haven't noticed."

"I haven't noticed what?"

"The fact that he's in love with you." She says with finality before going outside to yell for Peyton to come in so they could go home and get homework done before bed time.

"MOM! We're playing!" She screams back at her mother.

"And I'm sure that we'll hear the same argument tomorrow after school, so why don't we get you home and get that work done, and _maybe_ I'll be nice enough to read you a story before you go to bed."

"Will you make one up instead? I'd like that." Peyton says, finally coming to the door, standing beside a very dirty Lucas.

"What did you do to Lucas?" she asks her daughter, looking the boy up and down.

"We were playing a game!"

"And again, I say, what did you do to Lucas?" Anna says with a matter of fact tone to her voice.

"Oh! Yeah, he lost." She says, before hi-fiving Luke and running through the house screaming goodbye to Karen and to Keith.

Karen came to the door to see just what Anna saw. It was a seven year old boy covered head to toe in dirt. "Lucas Eugene, what did you do?"

"Well, she did win."

The two adults laugh before Karen instructs Lucas to strip at the back door before even thinking about coming into the house for the evening.

It was like this nearly every day after school. They would go over to one of their houses, and the other parent would eventually come over when they noticed that they were missing their child. A few hours and a few cups of tea later, the adults would get the kids back into their houses for homework, dinner, and showers before bed.

"So what is the story about this time?" Anna asks her daughter who is wrapped up in covers and surrounded by fifteen different stuffed animals.

"I don't know… something really good though."

"How about a brave prince rescuing his favorite princess from the dragons of the day?" she says, trying to make her voice sound spooky to entice the girl's interest.

"No, that's boring… too much lovey dovey stuff." Peyton replies, sticking out her tongue.

"You know, one day, when you grow up, you are going to be all lovey dovey with a boy and you're going to get married and you're going to have your own babies."

"I know." The seven year old replies easily.

"You know? How do you know?"

"Cause I'm going to marry Lucas."

Anna's eyebrows go up, and she realizes that Lucas' random outburst of the day was not just Lucas thinking about these things, but Peyton _and_ Lucas having their own little discussion.

"Oh, you are? And why is that?"

"Cause he's the only boy that isn't gross… they all have cooties and stuff."

"Well, I think Lucas is a good choice then. But we still have to pick out our story for the night."

"You know what mom? I'm tired… we don't have to do a story tonight." She says with a yawn and an air about her that seemed much older than her years.

"All right then, I love you and your dad loves you, so sleep sweet my little Peyton Elizabeth."

She leans down and gives the little girl a kiss on her nose before retreating to the hallway and smiling to herself. Oh, it was wonderful being a parent.

That time was cut short though, and everything changed just a year later when Lucas came home with no Peyton.

"Where's Peyton?" his mom asked when he came in without the curly blonde.

"She said that her mom was picking her up to run an errand after school, and then she was bringing her over here."

"All right, then why don't you get your work done before she comes over?"

He shrugs his shoulders as if there is nothing better to do without his best friend anyways.

It was a few hours later when Karen started getting worried, and called the Sawyer house. The other woman had quickly become a best friend to Karen, so to not hear from her all afternoon was not typical. Larry had been home for a few weeks, so it was surprising to her that no one picked up the phone. It was even more surprising when she found out that that was the day Anna Sawyer died, running a red light because she thought she would be late picking up Peyton from school.

Lucas climbed the stairs to her bedroom that next day, in search of his friend, knowing what had happened the day before.

"Peyton?" he says, seeing her laying on her bed with her back turned toward the door.

"I don't want to talk, so can you just go away?"

That wasn't Peyton. Peyton was always smiles and never ending talking… she never turned Lucas away.

"Nope." He said, plopping on the bed next to her, just sitting there, waiting for her to turn and talk to him.

It was an hour before she said another word. That was a long time for an eight year old, but he knew that she would talk if he just waited for her.

"It's my fault…" she finally says in a small voice again unlike the little girl he has known for four years.

"No, it's not."

"She was coming to pick me up though, Luke."

"I know."

"Then it's my fault."

"When I asked my mom about it, she said that God just needs people early sometimes up in heaven."

"Really?"

"yeah…"

"Can I still be sad?"

"Yeah… my mom said that she was really sad. You know that if you need a mom, you can borrow mine?"

"Thanks, Luke."

That's how it went for the next few years, Peyton leaning on Karen as a second mother, and Lucas staying by her side through it all.

"Dude, you were AWESOME!" Peyton says, giving Luke a big hug and a high five.

"She's right Luke, you did a great job." Keith says, also giving the boy a high five.

"It was so much fun, and we were so good, and it was fun, and did you see my baskets! I was so much faster than everybody else, and I even got my free throw, and it was so cool!"

After years of playing one on one with his uncle, Lucas had finally been convinced to try out for a traveling team when he was in fourth grade. He was clearly a natural on the court, making the majority of the baskets for his team, but still being the team player that Keith had always told him he should be.

"I wish mom could have been here though."

"I know, bud, and we'll tell her all about it, but the oven couldn't be left another day. You understand that, right?"

"Yeah, I get it… it's okay."

"All right, then let's go grab some ice cream and go see how the oven repair is going at the café, sound good?"

The two kids were obviously excited about the idea as they make their way to Keith's truck, replaying the major plays of the game as how Peyton saw it and how Lucas saw it on the court. They were stopped though when a man came up to Keith that neither of them recognized.

"Hey, Keith, what are you doing here?" the man said, coming up to Keith and not noticing the two children walking near him.

Keith turns quickly, telling the kids to meet him at the car and tossing the keys to Lucas.

"What are you doing, Dan?"

"I didn't realize you were on babysitting duty for Karen… the boy's got some talent."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't get it from you."

"huh… well, I guess I'll be seeing you around then."

Lucas decided that day that his life would be consumed with basketball. But this ended up leading him to the realization of who his father really was. Apparently in some grand scheme that God thought was highly amusing, Lucas ended up on the same team as another boy, Nathan Scott. Nathan was a pretty good player, but after he figured out who his father really way, it led to the realization that the other boy on the team that was doing such a great job was his half brother. And he wanted nothing to do with him.

"Lucas!" Peyton says, loudly while banging on his bedroom door after he ran out of his basketball game.

Karen knew what it was about, in fact she locked herself away in her bedroom because of it, not wanting anything to do with anyone for a few hours. She knew that she wasn't teaching Lucas the right thing to do, but it was her only way of dealing as well.

"Go AWAY!" he screams back at her through the door.

"I'm not going away…" she says.

A few hours later, long after Peyton had stopped knocking on his door, the phone rang, finally causing a smile to grace his face.

He opened the door, and there she sat, with her sketch book in her lap and a pencil in her hand. She looked up only briefly when he opened the door to her, and finally allowed herself to stop after a few minutes of him sitting next to her on his small porch.

"So…"

"You didn't go away."

"Well, I told you that I wouldn't. How did you figure it out?"

"Your dad just called cause you hadn't come home yet."

"What did you tell him?" She asked, kind of worried that he said he was sending her home.

Home had become a sad place for Peyton. Her dad was great, but he was just one person. He couldn't cook, and he couldn't help her with her homework, and he certainly didn't understand sixth grade girl drama. She could talk to Karen about a lot of things, and the pair had also found a friend in another Tree Hill girl, Haley James. The James family was a big one, so Haley explained that her house was full enough, and theirs wasn't. It seemed like days later, Haley was a fixture at the Roe house or Sawyer house on a daily basis.

"I told him that you were eating here tonight… which is probably going to be frozen pizza, cause my mom hasn't come out of her room all night."

"Why?"

"You know why, Peyton."

"I do, but I need you to explain to me what you're thinking, Luke, cause I don't get why it's such a big deal."

He takes a big breath before launching into his explanation. "He couldn't have a piece of me, when I didn't know who he was, he had no part of me. Now I find out that he's got another kid who plays basketball just as good as me, and it's like he has a part of me. It was the first time that I realized it. I said something to my mom, and she got upset, which is why she's all stuck in her room tonight. It just made me mad, so I'm done."

"You're done? You're just going to quit basketball?"

"I'm not going to quit… there are some guys that play on the River Court all the time. I'll join them, and then I don't have to deal with _him_."

"Have you ever thought about what he thinks of this whole thing?"

"He doesn't have a clue. I'm pretty sure that I gave him the death glare a few times, and the look I got in return was pure confusion."

"Maybe he's just stupid…" she says, trying to getting him to smile.

Of course she succeeded and the two grabbed Peyton's things, and walked into the house to make some pizza for dinner. Peyton didn't need to go home, and Lucas needed her anyways.

Once his mom came to, he explained his blow up, and she explained everything that he needed to know about. She understood how he was feeling about everything and, like Peyton, tried to convince him to still play basketball on the league he was in.

The River Court was enough for him. For the next few years, it was perfect. Skills, Junk, Fergie, and Mouth… and Lucas Scott. Occasionally, Peyton and Haley came to watch the boys play. Peyton came more often to sketch the happenings on the river. Lucas grew to love every square inch of the pavement, craving it every day. As long as he was happy, Karen was happy, so she never pushed the idea of organized basketball again.


	2. A Glimpse of Junior High

**I'm glad that you guys enjoyed this first little installment, and I hope you enjoy this next one... Now, I said that I wasn't going to skip a whole bunch of years, but the younger years and this junior high chapter I wanted to be shorter... I felt like there wasn't much to go on there, so I hope that doesn't make you mad. I'm working on freshman year right now, and I'm already at 5,000 words but I feel like I need to keep going with it... so I'm thinking that it may end up being like 2 chapters a year after that. We shall see though. I apologize for the cheese in advance!**

Then there was the day the two single parents realized that they were in for a lot more than they bargained for.

Larry Sawyer was a streak when he came into the Roe house that weekend afternoon sometime when the kids were in seventh grade. Lucas was confused because he didn't know why Larry would show up without Peyton at his side. It seemed like two seconds later, Karen grabbed her things and told Larry and Lucas that she'd be right back.

"What's with my mom?" Luke asks him when they are left alone.

"Girl stuff…." He says, cryptically, which Lucas gives him a look for.

"With Peyton?"

"Well, Peyton is a girl, Lucas." He laughs.

"I know… Peyton just doesn't usually bother with girl stuff." Luke says, shrugging his shoulders and inviting Larry into the living room to watch whatever random game was on the television.

Karen in the meantime was sitting outside Peyton's bedroom, waiting for her to come out after she came to the rescue of the single dad with no knowledge of junior high girls.

When Peyton finally emerged, she seemed surprised that Karen was still there, sitting on the floor next to her door.

"You're still here?"

"Well of course I am! You okay?"

Peyton shrugged her shoulders in a way so similar to Karen's own son that it made her laugh, "Yeah, I'm good. Where's my dad?"

"Probably nowhere near this house."

She sits down next to Karen then, turning to her with a smirk on her face, "Did he freak?"

"Only a little bit…"

"He totally overreacted. It was like he couldn't speak English anymore." Peyton laughs.

"Guys are like that with this kind of thing… touchy subject."

"I don't get why… it isn't that big a deal."

"It kind of is though."

"Why?"

"Means you're growing up, and I don't think your dad, and even me are ready for that yet."

"I've never understood the drama with the whole "growing up" thing… things change, weird things start happening… get over it."

"You have always been like such a boy when it comes to stuff like that… even when we had to go get you your first sports bra for cheerleading, it was no nonsense. Some girls, myself included, are mortified at the thought."

She considers the difference for a minute, sitting silently beside the older woman, "you think my mom's freaking out?"

"A little yes, and a little no…"

Peyton quirks an eyebrow in her direction at that.

"Your parents and I had a deal… if anything happened to them, we'd make sure you were always taken care of. They said the same for Lucas. I think your mom was always so worried about your dad being away. Keith finally told me one day that Larry was the one who brought up the idea. So, your mom might be up there freaking out that her little girl is growing up, but she knows that I'm going to always be there for you with all that entails."

"Do you think that's why I don't care about stuff like this? Cause I don't have a mom?"

Karen wraps the girl up in her arms after that admission, "Peyton Sawyer, you do have a mom. You have a mom that is still watching over you. And you've got a pseudo mom who always has your back. I think you are just going to always be the one who keeps everything inside… you've just got to know when it's okay to let your guard down."

"That's what Luke says… he says I keep everything bottled up until I have to blow up at something… which he swears is always him."

"My son's a smart one where you're concerned."

"Yeah…" she says, leaning her head on Karen's shoulder.

"All right, so the mom in me needs to know if you are okay, and if you've got any questions…"

"No, I've got this covered. Haley and I have talked about it, and it isn't like the other girls at school don't brag about it."

Karen scrunches her nose up at that, "Not really something I'd brag about… anything else though? Do we have to do some more girly shopping or talk about boys?"

"Boys? Nah… I'm good with boys."

"No interest?" Karen says passively, but wildly interested all at the same time.

"Interested, but there aren't any good ones to pick from."

"So no hand holding or kissing yet?" Karen asks poking Peyton in the side, until Peyton gets extremely red at the suggestion. "Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer, are you kissing boys!"

"No! I mean, one, but it was only one time! It was a dare! I swear!" she says, standing up with wide eyes, looking down at Karen who is more tickled than upset about her kissing anyone at all, the tomboy she's known for years.

"Who was it?" Karen asks, getting another blush in return.

"You know who it was…" Peyton says, avoiding the older woman's gaze.

"Lucas? " she asks, knowing that's exactly who she's talking about, "huh… do we need to talk about _that_?"

"Oh! No! Lucas is… Lucas… it was a dare. We don't like like each other at all!"

"Okay." Karen says, getting up, but still thinking that again… they've got more coming up the pipe than they bargained for.

Later that day, Peyton knocked on Lucas' bedroom door, which he opened eagerly. "Hey!"

"Hey."

"I haven't seen you all day and your dad was totally freaked out… are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?"

"I don't know, he said that you were having girl issues… and I didn't know… oh…" he says, as he has the realization of why Larry was freaked out as she starts getting more and more red at the continued speech of the boy that is always going to be her best friend.

"And now that realization is over, we're done talking about it… and we've got some serious movie watching that needs to happen."

He's still in a bit of a trance when she smacks him on his shoulder, "Seriously… get over it."

That's how they dealt with matters of growing up. They knew it happened, they knew it was happening, but they chose to not acknowledge it as something that would ever affect either of them.

However, the summer between junior high and high school was the year that things started changing yet again for Lucas and Peyton. They had grown from the boy who said he was going to marry her because she was cool and the girl who would pile dirt on him in the backyard. He was going to be tall, blond, and his blue eyes were starting to become the melting of junior high girls everywhere. Peyton turned into all legs, blonde curls everywhere, and piercing green eyes that were getting the attention of boys that Lucas just assumed should be killed by his hand. That was the reason for many a fight between the pair.

While they had gained many mutual friends, there was also Brooke Davis, a point of contention between Lucas and Peyton. Peyton liked the spunky preteen when they started junior high, and Lucas thought that she was a bad influence on the blonde. They had met through cheerleading in seventh grade, and it seemed like every time he heard the girl's name, it was after something that Lucas didn't agree with.

"Luke, I don't get you right now…"

"Peyton, you don't need to be going to a high school party with Brooke. Something's going to end up happening, and you're just going to end up getting hurt. And news flash… Brooke isn't going to be the one who's by your side when you do."

"Well, I'm soooo sorry that you always have to save me Lucas Scott… and besides, we're technically in high school now anyways, so it shouldn't matter."

"Peyton…" he says, basically conveying to her his disappointment.

"Look, you aren't my parent, you're my friend, so get over yourself. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Or, you'll stay right here…" a voice says from the doorway, making Peyton stop her retreat.

"Karen, your son is being a jerk." She says, turning to the older woman.

"Then you may call me a jerk too, because I completely agree with him. This isn't you Peyton, and you know it. I don't think the party is a good idea, especially just you and another girl going."

"Fine." She says, throwing her purse back on Lucas' bed with her body falling right after it.

"Do you guys want something to eat?"

"Yeah, ma, that'd be great."

When Karen left, Peyton hit him. "Thanks, Luke."

"I have no control over what my mom hears and doesn't hear, Peyton, so whatever."

"Now I've got to call Brooke, and she's gonna be upset."

Lucas rolls his eyes as she dials the now familiar number.

Lucas assumed that in typical girl fashion, she would disown the blond and they would fight the rest of the summer until they screamed jumping up and down on the first day of high school. That's how girls acted, but Brooke surprised him.

"Peyton!" Karen calls from the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"Can you come in here for a minute?"

She hit Lucas again just for good measure before going into the kitchen to see Karen sitting at the table, while something cooked in the oven.

"Talk to me, kid." She says, knowing there was something else going on inside the young girl's head.

"About what?"

"Lucas is right, that isn't you. High school parties, boys… what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing." She says, looking down at her hand that was picking at the table.

"hmmm… well, seeing as how you and my son both seem to pick at my table when you have _nothing_ on your mind, I would say that you're lying to me Peyton Sawyer."

"I'm bored."

"So you and Luke should go do something…"

"No, not now… in general. My life sucks. My dad is always gone, my best friend is a boy who doesn't understand half of what comes out of my mouth, my mom is dead, and I have to start high school in three weeks."

"So going to parties and inevitably doing stupid things is going to fix that?"

"I wasn't going to do stupid things, you know me better than that."

"I just don't understand why you would even surround yourself with something like that then, Peyton."

"I wanted something different… I wanted to do something that wasn't so predictable or maybe even safe."

"And you think that's a good idea?"

"No… I don't know."

"And what about Brooke? Lucas doesn't seem to like her very much…"

"I know, and I know why, but it isn't fair."

"Well, why doesn't he like her? Why does he say she's a bad influence on you?"

"She isn't… well, she is, but I don't do the things that Lucas says she does. She messes around with some guys and she drinks at parties and stuff like that, but Luke doesn't get it."

"Well, that makes two of us, so can you explain?"

"I'm not going to do that stuff… I'm not. And I don't think Brooke can help it. She's doing it for the attention."

"From the other kids?"

"No, from her parents."

"Her parents know that she does this and still let her do it?"

"No, that's just it, they don't care. Her dad works as a CEO of some big company and is never home, and supposedly her mom is always traveling to keep away from home too. Brooke's usually stuck by herself, and Lucas won't let me explain that to him. She might be a bad influence on me if I let her, but I thought that Luke and I could be a good influence on her instead, you know? We both have weird situations too, and we've gotten pretty good with avoiding the crap we should avoid. I thought we could help her out."

"While that is an admirable thing, you need to understand that you shouldn't be dragged down into her lifestyle because of trying to help her. That's like someone saying that they are going to start drinking to help their alcoholic friend… bad logic. You need to invite her into your things."

"Well, I did… she's going to come over tomorrow and we're going to watch TV and stuff, if that's okay. I was even going to see if Haley and Skills could come over too."

"I think that's a good idea, and I'll even spring for pizza."

"Thanks Karen." Peyton says, turning away and heading back to Lucas' room for what's sure to be another argument.

"Peyton, if something ever happens where you think Brooke needs an adult's help, you need to let me know, okay? You can't handle everything yourself."

She nods and continues her way back to Lucas' room, finding him just sitting on the bed and waiting for her to return.

"How much did you hear?" she asks, sitting down next to him.

"I heard all of it."

"And…"

"You've got a big heart Peyton, I wish more people knew that." He says before laying up against the pillows stacked by his headboard and ready for another movie.

"So, tomorrow?"

"I'll try and I think it'd be fun to have Haley and Skills come too..."

The next day was an odd one. Lucas wasn't the most popular guy, so having Brooke Davis at his house was just odd to him. Peyton was the one who straddled that line, always leaning back over to his side even though the girls wanted her on theirs. He was going to make an effort though, he was going to help Peyton be there for Brooke, even though Brooke was probably going to cause more trouble than he wanted.

"So what's the story with you and Luke?" Brooke asks, when Lucas leaves to replenish their popcorn.

Not fazed by the question, Peyton just quirks her eyebrow, "what do you mean?"

"I mean, are you guys like dating, or are you friends, or what?"

"Seriously? Lucas is like my brother. I've known him for years… his mom and my mom were really good friends when we were little before my mom died."

"So nothing has ever happened between the two of you?"

"We've kissed before, but it was on a dare…" Peyton says, still letting the incident just roll off her shoulders.

"What! And you didn't feel anything?"

"What is it supposed to feel like? It was a kiss… nothing more than that."

"huh… maybe we'll have to experiment with that."

"No, Brooke… leave Luke alone. Leave me and Luke alone."

"Ah HA! So you admit that there is a you and Luke."

Peyton rolls her eyes at this, knowing that Brooke is trying to get her to admit something is there between the two of them.

"There is a me and Luke as in we are best friends, and that is IT…"

"Well, then you obviously need to start looking a little closer, cause your best friend is totally hot."

With wide eyes, Peyton looks to Brooke right before Luke comes back in with the popcorn for the rest of their second movie.

"What happened while I was gone?"

"Nothing that you won't figure out eventually." Brooke says, loading the statement with a lot more than she should have.


	3. Freshman Year: Part 1

**So, I contemplated just finishing the whole freshman year thing and posting a huge chapter, but then I thought that it would take me too long, so he is a not too short chapter, and I'll keep writing the rest of it… I've got major ideas, but I'm personally open to people giving me some too… don't review your ideas though, just PM me so nobody gets any spoilers if I decide to use it!**

**Review and enjoy… hopefully Freshman Year will be done soon!**

"So… tomorrow."

"Big day."

"Yup…"

They were sitting on her bed contemplating life the Sunday night before they were starting their Freshman year of high school, and not knowing what to make of things.

"Word has it that Nathan Scott is going to be the first Freshman on varsity like ever…" she says, daringly bringing up the boy who they were going to share a school with for the first time. They were glad they lived on different sides of town than Nathan and the man who was supposedly Lucas' father, cause that meant they went to different junior highs and different elementary schools. High School was going to be a totally different matter.

"Yeah, that's what I've heard. Skills and the other guys are trying to convince me to try out for the team this year."

"Why don't you… you're probably better than him anyways. And you know it, Luke."

"Same reason why I quit the team in sixth grade… I don't want him to have a piece of me."

"And you think he will on the basketball court? He won't, Luke. You'll take that from him."

That's all she says for a while, letting him take her words of wisdom in for a little bit before he is the one to break the silence.

"Will you kiss me?"

She turns to him quickly after that, "What? No! Why!"

He laughs a little bit about the fact that she was freaking out, and part of him breaks just a little bit as well. He knew it was a long shot, but he thought that he could at least try.

"The guys were giving me crap the other day about how we were going to high school and I hadn't kissed a girl yet."

"Well, technically, you have though."

"Yeah, but not like that, Peyton, I mean like really kissed a girl. Like… you know."

"Whatever Lucas, they probably haven't either…"

"So does that mean you aren't going to kiss me?" he finally asks again, laughing yet again when she hits him across the chest. "You're always hitting me!"

"Only cause I love you, Luke."

"So, what are we watching?"

"I haven't decided yet… something high school though, so what are our options?"

They watched movies until Karen called him home to get a good night's sleep before the first day of school.

In the morning, the pair decided that they were walking to school, just as they used to do in elementary school, but couldn't in junior high because it was farther away.

"Blast from the past, huh?"

"Yeah, this is kind of weird, right?"

"Nah, it just means that we are right back where we started."

"I like that idea." Peyton says, as they pass their old school, and on to whatever new and exciting adventures await them at Tree Hill High.

"So, what day are cheerleading tryouts?"

"Thursday… which totally blows, because it's the first week of school, you know? You would think that they would want you to get into the swing of things before you finally get to start in on the extra curriculars, right?"

"Are you sure about trying out then, or are you doing it just for Brooke?"

"No… I'm doing it for me… well for me and for my mom. I feel like I'm part of her with that?"

"You're actually pretty good at it too."

"Shut up! I'm not good at all." she says, hitting him again, causing him to just laugh about the whole situation.

They get to the school just a few minutes before the bell and realize that they have to be on opposite ends of the school for their first classes.

"So, I'll see you 4th hour?"

"That's the only class we have together?"

"Yup… English… get excited!" he says, laughing at her pained expression.

"Well… at least I'll have a good tutor, right?"

"See you then…"

He gets nearly to the door when she calls out his name again, pulling him off to the side, grabbing his face in her hands to kiss him.

To say he was shocked was a complete understatement of epic proportions. She didn't just put her lips to his, and it wasn't a dare pulled out at some stupid junior high party. She kissed him… in a way that he had no clue how she knew how too. When she pulled away, and started to walk away, it was he who had to turn back for a moment.

"Where the hell did you learn how to do _that_?" he screams at her.

"Hey, you said they were going to give you crap, and now they can't. But if you tell them it was me, I will hunt you down in your sleep Lucas Scott, because they won't let us live it down forever."

She is then the one who walks into the school without looking back this time.

Of course he didn't tell the guys that day, and would probably never tell them about what happened between the two of them that first day of school. It was also clear that Peyton didn't want to talk about it either.

"So, are you going to tell me?" he asks her weeks later when they are sitting in his bedroom working on homework.

"Am I going to tell you what?" she then asks, not looking up from her algebra.

"Where you learned to kiss like that."

"You know, I'm impressed…" she says, referring to his question.

"at what?"

"At the fact that you waited three weeks to ask me that question. But we aren't going to talk about it, because it's weird and it was a one time thing that is never going to happen again."

"Never?"

"Nope." She says, turning back to her algebra.

They never really talked about it again, getting into the scheme of things with high school, and attempting to survive their first year together.

A few months into the school year, when basketball started up for the school year, Haley found herself in a very interesting situation. To tell or not to tell…

"So, do you want to go out with me some time?" he asks her when they finally get out for the day.

"No." she says, ignoring him completely while packing up her stuff.

"Well, did you know that I'm the only freshman that has ever made varsity before?"

"I do think that I remember hearing about that, and I do believe that I could care less about that."

"You're a cheerleader, aren't you? You're supposed to care about stuff like that."

"Peyton, you ready?" Haley calls as she walks into the gym to walk over to Luke's with Peyton.

"Yeah, I'm ready…"

"Just try to resist my charms, Sawyer"

"Already done." She says, gathering the rest of her things and walking over to Haley who had stepped out of the gym and was already on the way out of the school parking lot.

"Hey, wait up!"

Haley stops, but gives Peyton a look of annoyance.

"Geez, you would think that I was like fifty minutes late and not five!" she says to Haley after dramatically looking to her watch. "What's wrong with you… they give you a bad list of tutorees or whatever?"

"No, I'm just curious about what you and Nathan Scott were so chummy about."

"Chummy? You call that chummy?"

"Well, he was obviously very interested in what you had to say."

"Yeah, cause he was trying to get me to go out with him."

"And…"

Peyton full on laughs at this suggestion of cluelessness, "Are you freaking kidding me Haley? You think that I would go out with Nathan Scott? You're nuts!"

"If he wasn't Lucas' half brother, would you be interested?"

"Hell no! The guy's a pompous ass. Why would I even remotely want to even be in his presence?"

"Lucas isn't going to like this." Haley says with a know it all expression on her face.

"Well, Lucas isn't going to find out about this unless someone opens her big mouth, now is he?"

That was the first time that she was knowingly keeping something from Lucas, and it didn't set right with her. Making Haley lie to him made her feel even worse, but she knew that whatever this was, it wasn't going to make Lucas even remotely okay with her.

Two weeks later, Lucas found out, but it wasn't Haley's big mouth, it was Brooke's that spilled the beans while they were sitting at lunch.

"Nathan Scott asked you out!" she screams, running over to where she sees Peyton, Lucas, Haley, and Skills eating lunch together outside.

"What?" Lucas says, clearly upset and confused by the comment.

"Brooke, shut up!" Peyton says, catching a glance at Lucas while trying to avoid anyone else's face.

"I just can't believe that you wouldn't tell me that Nathan Scott asked you out! He's like the most popular freshman in the school and will probably be the most popular guy in school once this idiot quarterback decides to graduate. And he asked you out! What did you say?"

"yeah, Peyton, what did you say?" Lucas breaks his silence, scanning Peyton's face for anything that he could grab hold of to read.

"I said no, of course I said no!" she says, more to Lucas than to Brooke who was on pins and needles waiting for a response.

"No… why the hell would you say no?" Brooke asks, deflated and not catching the steely gaze of Lucas Scott towards his best friend.

Lucas decides to leave then, walking to his next class early, and finally thanking the powers at be for the first time that he and Peyton only had one class together.

It was the following Tuesday, nearly a week later that Peyton couldn't take the cold, silent treatment any more from him.

"What the hell is your problem? I said no!"

"Yeah, but I didn't know that you said no!" he says, screaming at her from his bed, and not in the least shocked that she had come storming into his bedroom.

"Are you kidding me! You think that I would actually date him! The guy is a JERK! Not to mention all the baggage that comes with all of your history… I wouldn't do that to you."

"But you didn't tell me, Peyton! Why wouldn't you tell me that he was hitting on you? Huh? Why wouldn't you think to mention that my asshole of a half brother wanted to go out with my best friend? He's probably doing it to just piss me off."

Her eyes go wide at this, "Oh, so that is the only reason why he would want to go out with me… to get back at you? Luke, how would he even know that I was your best friend… he knows nothing about you! You've made that nearly impossible, because you automatically think that he is exactly like your father. Have you ever even thought to make the effort?"

They had never done this. They never screamed at each other red faced, and it was clear that one of them was about to break… however which one wasn't clear at the moment when Keith and Karen decided that maybe they needed to step into the hallway outside Lucas' bedroom.

"God! Are you sure that you didn't say yes? Cause you sure do seem keen on defending him. And isn't it you that said that he was a jerk? What the hell is your problem, Peyton?"

"What's _my_ problem? _My_ problem is that I kept something from my best friend to avoid this pleasant encounter that we are having right now! _My _problem is that I figured that he would KNOW that I'm always on his side! _My _problem is that I'm finally realizing that my best friend is a jerk just like his brother! So you know what?"

"WHAT?"

"Screw you, Lucas!" she finally screams, walking out of the bedroom and onto the sidewalk.

In the hallway it was a different matter to discuss… who got which kid.

"I'll go get Peyton… you can deal with the jerk…" Keith jokes, knowing that Lucas was just overreacting, and knowing that Peyton could use another Scott to convince her that maybe they weren't all bad.

"So are you going to share with me why you and Peyton were screaming at the top of your lungs at each other?" Karen says, sitting down on the bed while Lucas throws a tennis ball against his wall.

"You're going to actually pretend like you didn't hear the whole conversation?" he snaps back at her rudely.

"All right, I barely tolerated you yelling at Peyton, and I'm not going to let you talk to me that way! So you better figure out what your problem is, Lucas, because if I was in Peyton's shoes, I would have done the same thing. She didn't do anything wrong. You've just got such a… a stick up your ass about this kid, that you aren't letting yourself see straight." She says, not being able to figure out a better way to say it.

"And I don't get why you don't…" he says quietly just as she reaches the door.

"Lucas, you are going to learn one day that people are going to screw you over. People are going to disappoint you. People are going to take things away from you and have it with someone else. If I held onto that… if I let that shape me, then I couldn't be a good mother to you. If I let that eat at me the way you do, then I couldn't live my life. Peyton isn't going to be the one who disappoints you Lucas, only you can do that. She's right, you know. We don't know Nathan… he isn't Dan." She says, leaving his room, and waiting for Keith to come back with or without Peyton.

"Don't try…" she says when she hears the footsteps behind her.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asks, always amazed by the power of the females in his life to know everything without looking.

"I figured that you guys heard the whole thing, and since I know that I was right, I figured that Karen wanted to be back there to yell at her son. That leaves you to come make sure I'm not going to set my house on fire."

"Good logic." He says, finally catching up with her and seeing the tears in her eyes.

"Keith, what happened back there?"

"I think he overreacted, Peyton. I get why you did what you did… and honestly I don't think that the conversation would have turned out differently had you told him the day it happened."

"I know that."

"And you need to know that the only reason why it's making it worse is that you're you. You're the one person that Lucas trusts probably more than me or Karen, and you left a big piece of information out of your daily update. He loves you, Peyton."

She quirks her eyebrow up at that, not knowing which way to interpret what Keith says, "He may not know it yet, and you don't either, but he loves you in every sense of the word. So the idea of you betraying him made everything go bad for him in an instant."

"I can't even believe that he would think that I would date Nathan. Does he really think I'm that weak willed?"

"No, he doesn't, he just doesn't know Nathan, and you're right about that. He's judging Nathan by the same standards as he's judging Dan… it's not fair to anyone in the story."

"Soooo… what now?"

"Well, you're forgetting that your dad just left today… meaning that you're going to go get some stuff from your house, and you're going to come back and eat some dinner and do your homework. You don't have to come out of the guest room if you don't want to. I'll make that deal with Karen. Lucas will come around, and all will work itself out." He says, patting her on the back when they finally reach her house.

She stayed in "her" room that night, not even wanting to come out to talk to Lucas or anyone for that matter. She didn't know that Lucas did the same, keeping to himself and not wanting anything to do with the girl he knows is his best friend, and the girl he knows was doing it for his own good.

The next day, she left early for school, hitching a ride with one of the sophomore cheerleaders who had gotten her license and Brooke, who was still mad at her for turning down Nathan Scott. Peyton didn't need Brooke to know the whole history of why she wouldn't touch Nathan Scott with a four foot pole, because she was sure that it would end up around school the day after she told her.

When Lucas got to school, he couldn't find Peyton so opted to just wait until they had English together fourth hour. Then he acted like there was nothing wrong. And that is not what Lucas does. He usually stews about something for awhile before finally realizing that all should be well with the world and they shouldn't be fighting about anything at all. So, when the teacher asked them to pair up for their next project, she was still searching for a replacement when he plopped down in the seat next to her and started trying to figure out what book they were going to talk about.

"So, what gives?" she finally asks him at lunch.

"I was wrong. I know that you were doing it to protect me, and I shouldn't have flipped out on you like that. I don't want to fight anymore."

"Wow… what did your mom say to you to get that change?"

"She told me that I was being a jerk basically. She also told me that if she were you, she would have done the same thing."

"Truce?"

"Yeah… and Peyton, if you want to go out with him, you can. You're right, we don't know anything about him really."

"Well, he is still kind of an ego maniac, so I've got no interest, but thanks."

Later in their Freshman year, after Brooke had gone through her fourth boyfriend of the year… actually of the basketball season, she finally had enough with Peyton.

"So, you're like marked or something… between Lucas and Nathan, you are never going to get a man." She asks when the three girls are hanging out, Brooke finally thinking that Haley was passable for a friend.

"Maybe I don't want a man. Did you ever think of that?"

"Okay, no hormonal high school girl doesn't want a man, so unless there is some benefitting going on between you and Lucas, you are abnormal."

"I don't want a "man" either, what does that make me?" Haley speaks up, always amazed by Brooke's ability to tune out all things not in her immediate world.

All Brooke does is gesture over to her while staring at Peyton, "Umm… case in point?"

"And on that note, I'm going to go grab some soda, do you guys want anything from the kitchen?"

"I don't think there's really anything in there, except for soda…but yes please, a soda would be nice." Peyton says.

"Brooke?"

"I'm good…"

Haley leaves, and Peyton puts her book down in front of her to look Brooke in the eyes. "Brooke, you have to stop saying things like that to Haley. She's _my_ friend, and while she might not be yours, I'm going to bet that she would drop anything to help you if you needed it."

"Why?"

"Because that's what good friends do. And Haley is a good friend."

"I'll try?" she says as more of a question than a statement, "Now back to the problem."

"Brooke, there is no problem, and there is no benefitting."

"Well, half the school is thinking that since you said no to Nathan that your weird…"

"And what does the other half think?"

"That the reason why you didn't say yes to Nathan is because of Lucas…"

"What do you mean because of Lucas?"

"Well, there are two schools of thought as of right now. One, is that you and Lucas are in love and you guys won't date anyone else. Two, is that you shunned him because Nathan is really Lucas' half brother and you didn't want to deal with the drama."

"BROOKE!" Peyton and Haley both scream, Haley coming back to just catch the end of the conversation between the two.

"So it's true?"

"Where did you hear about that?" Peyton says, ignoring the question and wanted to get at the heart of the story.

"Apparently Nathan found out a few years ago, but some kid made a comment about how he saw Lucas playing basketball on the River Court one day and that he was pretty good, and Nathan got all bent out of shape about it. Then another guy was laughing about it and said that since they had the same last name maybe they were brothers. Apparently Nathan didn't like that, cause he walked out."

"When did this happen?"

"On Friday…"

"Crap." Peyton says, leaving Haley and Brooke to walk the short distance over to Lucas' house.

When she got there, there was no Lucas and only Karen was there to hear what was inevitably going to cause some issues in the near future.

"Where's Luke?"

"At the River Court with the guys, why?"

"I need to talk to him." She says, and Karen automatically senses that something isn't right.

"What's wrong Peyton?"

"Apparently, on Friday a bunch of the basketball guys figured out that Lucas and Nathan are brothers, and the chances of that not reaching the entire student body by Monday are about slim to none."

"Well, he was going to have to deal with that eventually… so he'll get over it."

As the words were coming out of her mouth, they heard Lucas' bedroom door slam shut.

"Yeah, not likely."


	4. Freshman Year: Part 2

**So, I just recently re-watched all of season 6, which is my favorite season of the show, and it inspired me to do some writing… aren't you just soooo glad! Now, I encourage you all to do the same and get inspired for some Leyton fic… or Naley fic, cause I'm hurtin' with these current story lines. Hopefully you enjoy this lovely update for a fic that was posted a long time ago. I'm also thinking of finishing up a few more as well! Maybe a little "One Year" or "And it Lasted Through the Years"… hmm… inspiration!**

Peyton walked quietly into his room, watching him grab his iPod, put the buds in his ears and turn the music up loud enough that she could hear it across the room. He didn't notice her, and when he finally did, the only thing he did was take one ear bud out and hand it to her.

Early on in their friendship, Peyton became a music buff. In junior high, when her dad finally got her a discman, all she did was go to Goodwill and used music stores to get CDs to listen to. It became a ritual for them when she got her allowance, and when she started looking into things more, she started getting some of her favorites on vinyl. They could put everything aside when they listened to music. The latest listening was a newer band called Dashboard Confessional. It was something Peyton had found and snuck on his iPod sometime the week before.

When the music was finally done from the album, she knew he still wasn't done thinking about what was going to happen next, "So, which was your favorite?"

"I don't know… there were a lot of good songs… I liked Chris' solo stuff. The band is going to be good."

She nods, knowing that it's true. They could usually pick the one hit wonders away from the bands that would get a few more albums out of them.

"So, you found out?" she asks, knowing that is exactly why he was pissed off.

"Yeah, one of the guys asked me about it today. How'd you know?"

"Brooke was being her inquisitive self and it came out what happened."

"What did happen?"

"One of the basketball guys saw you playing on the River Court and made a stupid comment to Nathan. He only found out a few years ago."

"Really?" Lucas says, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah…"

As if there was somebody watching at that very moment, Karen came in to tell Lucas that he had a visitor. The way she said it though didn't set right. It became clear why when she led the visitor into Lucas' room.

"Hey."

"uh… hey." Lucas says, not really knowing how to approach the situation.

"Luke, I'm gonna go back to my house. Haley and Brooke are probably still over there. I'll be back later for dinner and stuff, okay?"

"Yeah, good luck on the project."

She nods, and was half expecting a comment from the other Scott in the room, but didn't get one.

"So, I'm going to bet that the whole school knows about our… situation by now."

"That's probably a safe bet."

"Yeah…" he says, laughing a little bit, "Listen, I don't know you, and all I know is what my dad has said about you… which I don't ever listen to."

"Okay…"

"So, how do we want to do this?"

"I say that we just leave it alone. We hang with different crowds so nobody is expecting us to be best friends or anything."

"I get that, but I'm telling you that people are going to give you crap about this."

"They'll be doing the same to you." Lucas says, knowing that to be the truth.

"Yeah, but I'm used to taking crap."

He doesn't know how to interpret that statement, so he nods in thanks to the brother that he doesn't know.

"You play?" Nathan asks, noticing all the basketball paraphernalia around his room.

"Yeah."

"Maybe we could shoot sometime?"

"I thought that we weren't supposed to be friends?"

"I don't think that we should let everybody make us enemies though…"

"Peyton says you're kind of a jerk."

"I probably am… I don't know."

"Soo… we good?"

"Yeah… we'll deal."

With that, Nathan walks back out past a very guarded Karen Roe.

"Would you like to explain?"

"We aren't going to play into the drama." Lucas says simply before turning back to head to his room. He doesn't get to notice the small smile play on his mother's lips. She knew that he would be the bigger person when the time came, so that fact made her proud of her son.

When basketball season really got into the thick of things, it was like Peyton had disappeared. She was cheering on the JV squad with Brooke and it seemed like every day after school was another practice or another game. He also didn't like the idea of the JV basketball team giving her the nod all the time at school.

"Hey Peyton, thanks for the cheer the other day…" some random guy says as she and Lucas are walking in the hallway.

"What was that?"

"What do you mean? I'm a cheerleader, and I cheer."

"Yeah, you and like ten other girls, why did he have to single you out?" he says, starting to let himself get bothered over all the attention she was getting.

"He had a crappy play the other day and the guys were razzing him about it, so I sent a cheer his way. I felt bad… he really sucks."

Lucas laughs a little bit at this, and starts to simmer down for a minute when Nathan decides to make another surprise appearance by his side.

"Hey Lucas, you want to go shoot afterschool? Outside by the church down the street?"

He was surprised to say the least, but replied in the affirmative. "I've got a better place we could go, meet me outside after school? You got gear?"

"Yeah, sounds good…. Hey Sawyer, still trying to resist me?"

"Still succeeding." Peyton says totally deadpan.

"See ya later Lucas."

Lucas starts walking away, not noticing that Peyton was still staring open mouthed at the retreating form of Nathan Scott. She knew that they had decided to drop the drama, but come on, you've got to be serious.

"Lucas! What the hell was that?" she says, finally catching up to him.

"Nathan and I are going to go to the River Court and shoot after school, did you not understand the conversation?"

"Oh, I understood the conversation, I just didn't understand the two people having said conversation… since when do you and Nathan hang out?"

"Apparently since today."

After school Nathan met Lucas already changed into his clothes. They swung by Luke's house so he could change and then walked to the River Court. Thankfully there was nobody there when they got there.

"This place is pretty cool."

"Yeah, I came here after I quit leagues when I was younger."

"Why'd you quit?" Nathan asks.

Lucas of course dodges the question, and starts them on a game of HORSE. They shoot around for a bit, commenting on good shots or nice defense every now and then, but it was mostly about basketball. It wasn't until they were spent and they couldn't see the court anymore that they called it a night.

"You need to get on the Ravens… we could use you."

"No way man, not my thing."

"Makes no sense, you're good." Nathan says and Lucas can tell that he's being sincere about it.

"So, why'd you decide to do this today?"

"Honestly, it's the first time in a while that we didn't have a game, and coach cancelled practice for once. I wanted the break."

"You wanted a break from basketball, so you decided to play basketball with me?" Lucas asks, not really understanding his logic.

"Yeah, I know it's messed up, but I wanted it to be fun, you know? There's a lot of pressure on me, so it's kind of nuts sometimes."

"Well, it was fun, so we can definitely do it again."

"yeah…"

"Why do I have a feeling that basketball wasn't the only reason why you came out here with me today?"

"It wasn't… stuff just doesn't make sense to me. I mean, the only reason why I even know about you is cause I heard my mom and dad arguing one night when I was in like 7th grade. I went out to ask my dad and he flipped out, telling me all this stuff about how he didn't even know if you were his and all that. I could tell though that it had to be true, cause my mom was really upset about the whole thing."

"That's why I quit junior leagues… I found out that you were my brother and I found out that he was my dad. I didn't want to have to see him, and I didn't want my mom to have to see him anymore."

"You've got Keith though, so you're lucky. He didn't get the crazy Scott gene that my dad… our dad has."

"Keith is great… he's helped my mom out a lot and he's been there for me. He's like a dad to me and to Peyton when her dad isn't around."

"What's her story?" Nathan asks, curious about the girl that seems to have no interest in the freshman star.

"None of your business."

"Woah!" he says, putting his hands up in mock surrender, "I didn't mean anything by it, I just don't know anything about her. If you two are an item, I'll totally back off."

"No. We aren't, but she's my best friend… has been since I was four. Our mom's used to be close, Peyton's mom died when we were 8, and her dad is away on business a lot. She stays with us when he's away."

"There was no telling me to back off in that statement…"

"I'm thinking that there is no interest coming from her, so you might as well take that as a back off yourself. She thinks you're a jerk. And an ego maniac."

"Anyway to change that?"

Lucas shrugs his shoulder, and they continue walking in silence for a while. At one point the road split and Nathan headed towards his place and Lucas took the other road towards his.

What Nathan was met with when he got home was a very pissed off father. This wasn't atypical, but it became a whole new level when he found out what his son had been doing.

"Where were you?"

"I was shooting hoops, playing a pick up game."

"Nathan, Whitey may have cancelled practice, but that's no reason to go light on me. You should have come home right after school and we could have hit the weights and gone for a run. You wasted the time on shooting around? Playing games?"

"Dad, chill… at least I was playing some basketball."

"Yeah, with who… one of the other idiot freshman? That's not going to help you practice at all."

By now, his father's words were getting to him more and more. The pressure had been building and building since the season had started. It was too much, and his mom wasn't there to bail him out of all of it this week.

"No, I wasn't playing with some idiot freshman, I was playing with someone who could probably beat me if he was on the team…"

"Oh really, then why isn't he?"

"Cause you're an asshole… it's your son… and if you're confused, I mean your other son, Lucas. You know the one you abandoned?"

"In case you forget, if I wouldn't have left for bigger things, you wouldn't even be here. And like I told you before, you shouldn't call him my son. We don't even know for sure that he's mine."

"Yeah, dad, that's why you're all bent out of shape now." Nathan says, turning away from him and walking to his bedroom.

"Nathan! I don't want you around that boy!"

He shut his door on that last part, knowing that it would serve to piss his father off even more. Nathan knew that Lucas wasn't the problem… Dan was the problem.

He became an ever increasing problem when Lucas and Nathan let the River Court be a Saturday ritual. Even Peyton would join them to sketch the river walk from the other side while they were playing. Long runs with Dan were a thing of the past, and Dan decided to follow his son one day to find out what he knew was the case anyways.

Nathan didn't notice his father's SUV parked off to the side, but Peyton did… and so did Lucas. And long after Nathan left, the SUV was still there.

"You going to say something?" Peyton asks him, knowing that it was eating at him why the man was there in the first place.

"Should I?"

"Well seeing as how you check to see if he's still there after every shot, maybe you should figure out why he's here…"

"Nathan said that he doesn't like that we play games together, that's probably what has him all bent out of shape."

"Yeah… but part of you still wants to go over there."

"You ever going to stop trying to read my thoughts?"

"I don't need to try, you're an open book to me Lucas Scott." She says, putting her sketchbook down and laying down on the top of one of the picnic tables.

He kept shooting, ignoring the man that was his father, but still wondering what exactly was going on in the douche bag's head. He couldn't help wondering that after all these years at a distance.

A few days later, it was Peyton who met the wrath of Dan Scott at the River Court, waiting for Lucas and Nathan to show up that Saturday morning.

"You're Peyton, right? Peyton Sawyer?" he says, approaching the teenager, who stood and moved to the other side of the table. "Geez, I'm not going to attack you, I just wanted to ask you a few things."

"Not likely you're going to get much out of this."

"I see you around Lucas, and I know what the story around school is."

"You mean that he's your son, and that you're a douche bag and ditched him and Karen the first chance you got… yeah, I know that story pretty well actually."

He moved for her then, as a way of intimidation, "Listen here, little girl. Don't you act like—"

"Dad? What the hell are you doing here?" he says, looking between his father and a very scared looking Peyton.

"I was just having a nice chat with your little friend, Peyton here. She's a nice girl, Nate."

"Yeah, and what did you do to her?"

Dan laughs then, clearly no intimidated by his son, and thinking that Nathan trying to defend the girl was quite amusing.

"Well, clearly, I'm not welcome here, but I'm sure I'll be seeing you at home. I don't care how long you're here, but we've got four miles to run when you get home. I don't want you getting soft on me Nathan. Scouts start looking freshman year."

"Whatever, Dad." He says, dismissing his father and moving to stand next to a still shaking Peyton.

"Hey, are you all right? He didn't do anything, did he?"

"No, he just got in my face after I called him a douche bag…"

"Dude, you called my dad a douche bag? That's pretty much the best thing I've ever heard in my life." He says with a huge smile on his face.

They continued to laugh about it, not noticing Lucas walking towards them. Lucas was just taking in the scene… Peyton with her full smile on display, almost leaning in towards Nathan, and Nathan leaning right back.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing… we were just waiting for you." Peyton says, pushing herself back a bit and catching Nathan's eye to tell him not to say anything about what had just transpired.

"Oh, well, I was thinking that we could just shoot for a little bit and then go to the café. Mom just hired Haley to bus tables, and I'm pretty sure that with how clumsy Haley can be, that this could play out as the best thing in the history of ever."

They did just that, Nathan fitting in with the two of them more surprisingly than anyone thought, especially Karen Roe, who eyed the group with a cautious glare.

"Karen, it's fine." Peyton says, coming up to the counter for a refill.

"Peyton, are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Nathan is actually turning into a pretty cool guy. He isn't this horrible person that we thought he was. He's nothing like Dan." She says, looking over to Nathan with a bit of fondness.

"Huh… So he has your stamp of approval?" Karen asks, noticing the girl's reaction and worrying about the hearts that are going to be breaking sometime in the near future.

"He's not going to hurt Lucas."

"While I'm not betting on that, I'll keep out of it."

Peyton nods her head and starts heading back to the table, where Haley has taken a break and joined them.

"So, are you guys like friends now, or what?" Haley asks, nearly as confused as Karen is by the whole situation.

"I… uh… sure, I guess we're friends." Lucas says, looking over to a wide-eyed Nathan who acknowledges the same fact with a nod of his head.

"Well, I did not see that coming."

"Given the looks on their faces, I don't think they did either…" Peyton says, laughing at the two boys and their inability to express any feeling whatsoever.

It was a few weeks later when something else unexpected happened, and no one exactly knew how to react to the situation.

Lucas had caught them in an innocent position, but knew instantly that the thought behind it was not so innocent.

"Lucas, I don't get why you're so mad about this." Peyton says leading him away from her porch and onto the sidewalk. "He's your friend now, it isn't like before when you absolutely hated the guy and had all this horrible baggage."

"Peyton, the baggage is still there, and you know that. Why does he have to be this unspoken thing between the two of us?"

"Luke, we were sitting on my porch talking! It isn't any different than if you or Haley were sitting there with us."

"Yeah, but Haley or I weren't there, Peyton. He's making a move on you and you know it."

"So what? Lucas, I'm not yours, you know…"

"So you're saying that you're his now?"

"Luke, I was NEVER yours. In case you haven't noticed, the two of us are friends, just like me and Nathan are friends."

"Can't you see that he wants it to be more than that?"

"And what if he does? What if I do?" she says, raising her voice, causing Nathan to come down and say goodbye to both of them before getting on his way.

"Do you?"

"I don't know, maybe I do." She says, looking down at the sidewalk in front of her.

"Peyton…" he says, almost broken.

"Luke, I don't get it with you any more… Why are you freaking out about this?"

"I don't even know… I'm leaving… why don't you call him and see if he can come back?" he says, starting to walk away.

"Well, why would I want him to come back when I know for a fact that you'll watch the movie I want to with me."

He smiles, turning around and looking up to see her smiling back at him.

An hour into the movie, she finally breaks back into their conversation, "Lucas Scott, you will never be replaced, and you know that. Regardless of who I date or who I've got a thing for, you are always going to be the top spot in my life, you know that, right?"

He doesn't know what he was thinking in that moment, because looking back on it, he realized the mistake that he made. He leaned in and kissed her right then. It wasn't a dare or some attempt at putting a check mark next to a right of passage. It was because he wanted to. After a minute, she was the one who pulled back.

"Lucas, I don't want this…" she says, with tears brimming.


	5. Sophomore Year: Part 1

**Okay, I wrote a little bit of the Pathan stuff because someone said that they wanted some of that in there. I agreed because we needed some realizations and things. Sophomore year is going to be just a few short chapters. So, here's number one, and you'll be excited about number two in a few days or so. Junior year will start back longer because I'll have stuff from the show that I can work in too! Hope you enjoy this little installment, and I'm glad that you are glad…? Yeah, that's it… I'm glad I'm inspired too!**

It came out later in another way, Peyton telling him that she didn't want to ruin their friendship by turning it into something more. In a way it was like her telling him that if things were just a little bit different she would be completely for it. At least that is what he told himself to keep it from hurting so much in the end.

Why she ended up dating Nathan all summer and into the first part of Sophomore year, he couldn't understand though.

They all got along well, with Lucas attempting to avoid seeing the two of them together at all costs.

"Why don't you talk to her about it?" Haley asks him one day as they are sitting on opposite ends of the quad, with Peyton choosing to sit over with the jocks and the cheerleaders for once.

If he was being honest, he was pretty sure that she would be sitting there more often than not, "Because it isn't a big deal."

"Lucas, you are like madly in love with her!"

"I am not, Haley, you just don't get it."

She looks between the two of them again, seeing her glance over here every now and then, "No, I don't, and I don't think that I ever will."

Later in the day, it was what Lucas called his Peyton fest… They had three classes in a row together, and only one of them had Nathan Scott. So he ended his day with a Nathan-free Peyton, and was happy that he knew that he would always have that with her.

"So, what are your plans for tonight?" she asks him when they are packing their stuff up and heading into their last class of the day.

"I don't know, why?"

"Well, I was thinking that we could do a movie night at my house since my dad is gone and Nathan has an away game."

"You do realize you're wearing a Ravens cheerleading uniform right now, don't you?"

She fakes a few coughs, "I'm just not feeling up to it." She says, smiling at him.

"I'm up for it if you are feeling up to it too…" he says with a sympathetic hand to her shoulder.

"Oh shut up, I'll tell Brooke I'm not feeling good and you can come over after school?"

"Sounds good."

When they were curled up on the couch, sharing the tattered blanket from when they used to play forts as kids, and watching a movie, he finally had to ask, "So what's with the invite?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did Haley say something to you?"

"No… why? What would Haley have to say to me?" she says then, raising an eyebrow at him in a way that makes him love her all over again.

"Nothing, I'm just curious as to the timing."

"I don't know… I missed you guys at lunch, and I realized that I've been a kind of crappy best friend since school started, so I figured that I would spend the extra time with you."

"You haven't been crappy, just not as available…but did you have to ditch out of cheerleading for it?"

"No, but I figured that now was as good a time as any, right?"

He wasn't really convinced by the conversation, still thinking that there was more to her timing and more than met the eye.

At eleven o'clock, when Nathan Scott came through the door, he figured out what was that more than met the eye.

"Peyton, what the hell? I thought you were sick?" he says, seeing the two of them sitting on the couch with a forgotten pizza box in front of them.

"I just didn't want to go tonight, is that okay with you?"

"So you ditched out on cheerleading and spending time with me to…" he trails off realizing that this may not be the best conversation to be having in front of the issue.

"Peyton, I can go…" Lucas says, standing up from his spot on the couch and putting his arms up in surrender to Nathan.

"No, you need to sit down," she says, standing up and pointing between Lucas and Nathan, "and you and I obviously need to have a conversation."

"What the hell, Nathan?" she says, pulling him out onto her proch.

"I thought you were sick, but you're fine and all chummy with Lucas while your dad's out of town… what am I supposed to be thinking right now Peyton? I thought we were supposed to have some alone time together this weekend?"

"Nathan, all we have is alone time… I missed hanging out with Lucas today, so I decided to ditch out on cheerleading and instead spend the evening with my best friend."

"In your big empty house." He says with a gesture to the house.

"This may come as a shocker to you, but Lucas Scott has been in this house with just me before."

"Oh that's not a shocker at all…" he says, it coming out sarcastically.

"Nathan, what's really wrong?"

"I just thought that with the away game tonight and your dad being gone that—"

"That _what!_"

"I don't know!" he says, pushing his hands up in the same surrender as his brother did just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, you do… and seeing as how you and I have done nothing but kiss, I'm damn sure that you weren't going to hop all the bases and land home tonight… regardless of if I had come to that game and regardless of Lucas Scott."

"Peyton…"

"No, I'm done talking to you right now, Nathan. Ever since basketball season started up, you've been a total ass, and it's starting to wear on me a bit."

"I didn't mean to—"

"I know you didn't, but I still want some space this weekend… please?"

He nods, kissing her on the cheek before he walks away from her, leaving her on the porch for a few minutes by herself.

While Lucas couldn't understand what was being said, he could hear their voices arguing, and also figured out that they had stopped the arguing some minutes ago. Peyton was still not inside though, causing him to walk over to the door and peek out.

She was standing next to the railing, wiping a few stray tears away and obviously thinking way to hard for a teenager on a Friday night.

"Hey, you are going to miss the rest of this movie, and I'm sure that the ending is going to be epic." He says, pulling open the door.

She just looks at him, tear tracks still fresh on her cheeks.

"Well, come on… we have the rest of this one and at least two more to get through to be able to call this an official movie night, you know."

"You aren't going to ask me about it?"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Well, I figured as much, so I'm not askin' If you want to talk, you talk. If not, we watch and kill some of those brain cells occupied with whatever your pretty little head was just thinking about so hard."

"Lucas…"

"Hey, I know you. You can't deny it. So which is it? A heart to heart with your best friend about something that you don't want to talk about, or mindless movie watching that leads to endless laughter?"

She smiled then, which she knew was his intention and opted for the movie night instead of hashing out her earlier Nathan conversation with Lucas.

Basketball season made Nathan and Peyton's relationship just go up and down all the time. Depending on the day or the game, Nathan could be as sweet as pie… or he could be a total jerk, to which Lucas definitely had a problem with. Since they were friends in a loose sense of the word, he would call him out on being a jerk to Peyton or even to him. It worked.

It was all working. Nathan and Peyton. Lucas. Brooke. Haley. It was fine for all concerned… until a post game part that would go down as one of the best in Tree Hill High.

"So… kegs are over there, hard liquor there, make out room over there… and stupid jocks rehashing every minute of the game over there… have fun, use condoms, don't drive drunk!" Brooke says, walking Lucas and Haley through the party.

Since Lucas and Nathan shot around a lot together, the guys from the team started taking an interest in him. And because Lucas and Peyton had always been tight with Haley, she came along for the rides that they went on. This was definitely one of those rides.

"So the options here are to make out, have sex, get drunk, or be a stupid jock?" Haley asks with a smirk to Lucas, who was looking on with much of the same thoughts running through his head.

"Apparently…"

"Hey!" Peyton says, coming up behind the two of them and wrapping an arm around each. "I'm so glad you guys are here. I'm sick of listening to half of these idiots talk about meaningless crap. And… most of them are too far gone to know what they're saying now anyways."

"Well, we're glad to be here."

"You want to check out the pool?"

"Way too cold to go swimming." Haley says, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I know, which means that nobody is out there and we can sit around and avoid the chaos that is currently metaphorically and literally throwing up in Brooke Davis' house right now." Peyton reveals, knowing that is exactly want the other two want to do.

About an hour later, the three kept hearing an occasional scream out as the whole team and partiers were amused by something or another. Curious, they all went inside to see Brooke serving as an emcee for the high school version of spin the bottle, which she dubbed spin the chair.

"Oooh, Nate, now that Peyton's here, you're next!" she says from the center, putting Nathan in the chair and spinning. He didn't, however, land on Peyton, but on one of the freshman cheerleaders.

He turns to look at Peyton, and raises an eyebrow in question, to which she surprisingly replies, "It's just a game!"

She would be lying though if she said that she wasn't the slightest bit upset that the kiss obviously lingered.

"ooooh… and now the other Scott boy has his chance for the evening!"

People were still drinking and laughing, with even Haley finding the whole thing amusing. She was laughing quite hard with Peyton when she abruptly stopped, looking towards the center.

"What?" Peyton asks, then turning to see Lucas facing her.

He blushes then, and she doesn't know what to do. It's another situation where she'd be lying if she said she didn't want it. She looked to Nathan in the same manner he looked at her, to which he couldn't do anything but give the same response.

Brooke echoed the sentiment with a "Come on P. Sawyer, it's just a game!" when she saw the hesitation on Peyton's face and even Lucas'.

"Just a game." Lucas says with a laugh as he approached her, at which she laughed as well.

Then lips met, and all was forgotten. No one else was in the room, and suddenly the kiss wasn't about a dare in junior high, where they weren't supposed to be kissing at all. It wasn't an answer to an argument where feelings were found out and then buried. They were supposed to do it, and it was supposed to be fun, and there were no strings.

At least that's what the game was to everybody else.

The catcalls and screams broke them apart after what seemed like more than everyone else, and they laughed it off.

Nathan wasn't laughing. In fact the expression held on his face couldn't be read. He didn't look angry. He wasn't amused. It was totally blank.

So, when the game got boring, everyone went back to what they were doing before, some people just changing make out partners based on whoever their spin landed on. Haley and Lucas went out on the patio with the pool, expecting Peyton to follow, but she got pulled away with Nathan.

"We've got to talk." He says, pulling her into a vacant room.

"Nathan, it was a game." Peyton says, rolling her eyes. "You kissed what's her face from the JV squad, and I could care less."

"yeah, I noticed that."

"You know, most guys would appreciate a girlfriend who would let them kiss random girls at a post game party."

"Peyton, kiss me…" he says, nearly cutting her off.

"What? Why?"

"You know why…"

"No, I don't…"

He lets out a frustrated sigh before pulling her closer to him, letting their lips meet in what was supposed to be a passion filled moment.

When they pulled away from each other, she understood why he made her kiss him. It wasn't the same. It wasn't Lucas. He saw that.

"Nathan…"

"No. Don't worry about it. I'm surprised you and I lasted this long."

"I didn't mean to hurt you like that."

He shook his head, "You didn't, I should have known from the start that this wasn't going to work. We aren't meant for forever." He says, turning away from her to walk out of the room.

"Nathan?"

"Yeah…"

"Was it ever there?"

"It was. You tried, I know you did."

"I did." She says, thinking that she really did know that she had wanted this at one point."

"We're sophomores, Peyton, you're not supposed to find the love of your life in High School."

She raises her eyebrow at him then, letting him become aware of what he was essentially breaking up with her over.

"You found it in elementary school… big difference." He says, winking before he finally walks out.

Lucas figured something had happened when Peyton came out a few minutes later to say that she didn't feel well and was heading home. Nathan left a few minutes later, as Lucas saw, choosing to walk the few blocks to his house alone. Something had definitely happened.

Since her dad was in town for the weekend, Peyton didn't see Lucas at all, just calling him to confirm plans for walking to school the next morning, and to see if Karen could help her make a going away cake for her dad.

Monday at school was the day she dreaded most though. It seemed that everyone found out since she casually leaked it to Brooke that she and Nathan had called it quits after the party on Friday. Lucas had heard the rumor running around school, but chose to ignore it until he got to the source.

She sat between Nathan and Lucas in English, and walked in with the former and a smile on her face. They chatted and talked with the absence of any hand holding or occasional stolen kiss that had become commonplace.

This was new territory for him. How does his best friend react to a breakup? Peyton's never had a boyfriend, so how was he supposed to even know that the rumors were true?

"See you at practice?" he says to her as he's leaving once the bell rings.

"Yeah, bring your A game, Scott." She says, in the same silly banter she always used with Lucas.

"Are you going to tell me what's up?" Lucas finally says after Nathan's out of the room.

"We broke up." She says with a shrug of her shoulder.

"Okay, I know that all of my experience with this comes from movies and TV, but aren't you supposed to be upset about this? Shouldn't you have called me this weekend and told me to bring over a crap ton of ice cream."

"First of all, that is a total girl thing, so you would not have been invited to wallow in ice cream, and second of all, why be heartbroken over something that wasn't going anywhere?"

"So you guys are both totally fine with all this?"

"Surprisingly yeah… we talked on Friday and split, but he called me on Saturday and Sunday to hash out the details. We realized that it would be stupid to be horrible to each other when we liked each other so much anyways."

"Peyton, none of this makes any sense… what am I missing?"

She got distracted for a moment, trying to figure out a way to explain it without really explaining what had transpired that night. "You'll figure it out eventually. Keith told me that once. You'll figure it out eventually. Until then, we wait."


	6. Sophomore Year: Part 2

**Author's Note:**

**Okay, this is another really short one, just moving the plot line along a little bit. I was thinking about putting them together right away, and then thought better of it. But my mind is working and I've got plans for certain things in the near future. I'm also a Naley, so I've got to figure out how that's going to work into all this as well. I'm thinking and I'm working though, so yeah. I'm thinking that the next bit is actually going to be a summer between chapter, maybe with a road trip and possible drunk confessions? Who knows? It could be good…**

"So…" Karen says as Peyton plops down in front of her at the counter of the café. Lucas was playing with the river court boys after school, Haley was tutoring, and Brooke was off with her latest endeavor from the basketball team. That left Peyton alone, and since she wasn't up for starting homework on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, she figured she'd pop by the café for some lunch and see if Lucas or Haley became available sooner rather than later.

"Haley's tutoring, Lucas is playing basketball, and Brooke is… well, Brooke is being Brooke right now."

"What about Nathan?" she says, and Peyton picks up on the other question in her gaze as well.

"Lucas told you?"

"I'm surprised you didn't tell me, Peyton."

"It really isn't a big deal. Happened a week ago." She says, shrugging her shoulders.

"Okay… and you're fine with this and Nathan is fine with this?"

She just nods, not really wanted to get into the details of why exactly the two of them decided to part ways where boyfriend and girlfriend were considered. However, she knew that she wouldn't get away with that.

"What happened? Did he do something?" she asks, assuming that it was Nathan's fault as she still couldn't wrap her head around the boy.

"No, Karen, he didn't do anything. If anything, I was to blame, but we just realized that it wasn't going to work out."

"You guys dated for a while, you didn't see it before now?"

Peyton sighs then, knowing the real answer, but not willing to share before the reason figured out what the reason was, "No… it just happened, and we're good with it. Actually, we're still friends, and everything is fine. Even he and Lucas are okay with each other again."

"hmm… yeah, Lucas was starting to think he'd been replaced."

"I know that, and I told him that wasn't the case. It's going to all work out."

Just then, Keith walks in with Lucas trailing not too far behind, "Hey, look what I found?"

When Keith steps aside, they both gasp, watching Lucas walk in with muddy clothes and what is going to surely be a black eye tomorrow. "Lucas Eugene Scott!" Karen screeches.

"Luke, what happened!"

"Well, when I drove by, he and his brother were having a few words with their fists."

"Nathan did this to you?" Peyton asks.

"It's nothing, leave it alone." He says, walking past both of them to go into the bathroom.

Karen moves to walk back there to him when Peyton puts a hand on her shoulder, "Let me deal with this. I have a feeling it's going to be something stupid."

When she walks back to the bathroom, Lucas is dabbing at his eye with a washcloth, "you know that's going to be black and blue tomorrow?" she says to him, grabbing his face so she can see it better.

"It'll be fine."

"Are you going to tell me what happened?"

He sighs then, turning around to rest his body against the sink so he could face her, "It started off as some stupid comment about Dan, then it went to you, and then it went back to Dan, and it just got out of hand, and we were being stupid."

"What did you say?"

"Why do you automatically assume—" he starts and then notices her slight quirk of the eyebrow, "Okay, so he was kicking my ass basically and being a jerk about it, so he made some comment about how he got the Scott basketball genes a little better than I did, and I said something to the lines of the fact that he got all of Dan's asshole genes."

"Lucas… that's a low blow, you know."

"Yeah, so then he made some jerky comment about how at least he got the genes that Peyton Sawyer wanted to get into…" he says, cautiously looking up as he said it. "and I know that it was just trash talk and I know he was trying to get a rise out of me, but I took it too personally, and it pissed me off, so I hit him."

"You said it went back to Dan…"

"Yeah, that's kind of when I said that you were smart enough to get away from him before he got you pregnant and cheated on you with the first random chick that looked his way."

"I assume that's when he started hitting back?"

"Yeah, that's kind of where that started, and Keith was driving by and saw something happening."

"I don't think he was expecting it to be you…"

"No…"

"Hold on." She says, walking away for a minute and coming back with a bag of ice for his eye, "Lucas Scott, you are an idiot, and you know you have to go apologize to Nathan."

"Hey, he dished it right back at me."

"Yeah, and I'm going to go tell him that he needs to apologize to you too, cause you're both idiots."

"I'm sorry, Peyton."

"For what?"

"Being a jerk."

"As I see it, in a way, you were defending my honor… albeit in a roundabout way…" she says, grabbing his hand before turning to go talk to Nathan. "And Lucas… I never wanted in his jeans, for the record."

He smiled then, wincing a bit at the pain, and then wincing again when he saw Karen come around the corner and he prepared himself to get yelled at for fighting in the first place, no matter what the reasoning behind it.

Peyton rang the doorbell to the Scott house hoping that it was Nathan who would answer, and letting her face fall when it was Dan Scott who opened the door instead.

"Hi, Mr. Scott, can I talk to Nathan?"

"Well, if it isn't the cute little ex-girlfriend… who I'm sure is the reason he's going to have a black eye tomorrow. He's busy at the moment."

"Yeah, well, can you let him know that Peyton's here?"

"Peyton?" Nathan says, calling from the hallway behind his father.

"Nathan, go back to icing your hand. You can't play with it swollen like that." He says, clearly not caring much about his son, but more about the game that he could potentially miss.

"I'm good dad, I want to talk to Peyton… alone."

Dan looks between the two of them, a smirk on his face, "Oh young love… I remember that once… don't be stupid, Nathan."

"Thanks dad." He says with a scoff, stepping out onto the front step and motioning for Peyton to sit down with him.

"So, I guess you heard."

"Yeah, and apparently you are both real jackasses when it comes to your tempers."

"Well, I was provoked…"

"Yeah, and so was Lucas… but for the record, I didn't want in your jeans Nathan."

He looks down then, ashamed at what he had hoped Lucas wouldn't repeat.

"It was a low blow, him comparing you to Dan like that. He knows how you feel about all that. But, you had no right to bring me into that pissing match."

"I know, and I'm sorry."

"Well, that's why I came over here. You need to apologize to Lucas. Just like Lucas needs to apologize to you."

"And what about us?"

"What about us? I thought that everything was okay, and then I hear that comment, and I'm thinking it's not all okay."

"It's not. I thought that I would be okay with it, cause I know that you and Lucas have this strange connection or something, but maybe I'm not."

"Ego a little bruised?"

"Something like that…" he says, looking down again, avoiding her gaze.

"Nathan, I do still want us to be friends, and I do want you and Luke to actually be brothers. Don't let Dan and all this baggage get in the way of that. It's stupid."

"That's easier said than done Sawyer."

"I know, but come on…" she says, gesturing for him to come with her.

After the guys apologized, it went on okay for a while. Nathan and Lucas walked eggshells around each other for a while, but they were working towards something with each other. They knew what they wanted from each other and with each other, their father be damned.

"So, Luke, how goes it with Nathan after fist fest?" Keith asks weeks later when Lucas is helping him in the shop.

"It's okay… I mean we're working on things. We just know each other's buttons, you know? We knew exactly what would get to us."

"Peyton and Dan…"

"Yeah…"

"It's like the angel and the devil, but you've got to know when it's worth it, Luke. You knew he was pushing your buttons, you didn't have to play into it."

"Yeah, but the second he said that, I was pissed."

"Why?" Keith asks, fully knowing the reason.

"I don't know."

"Maybe he said it cause he knew you were jealous."

"What? Keith, it's Peyton."

"Exactly… it's Peyton."

That's all he said before going into the office to grab some paperwork on the car they were working on, leaving Lucas alone to think about what his uncle had said. He loved her, and he had known that for a while, but he also knew that she wouldn't return that sentiment.

When Keith came back, he knew the poor boy was still lost in thought about the situation put before him. "Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"You know, you're only sixteen. You'll figure it out eventually. There's a lot more living ahead of you."

It was like a switch was flicked, him hearing Peyton saying those exact same words to him just a month before now. What it meant, he didn't know. Was she saying that to get him to understand that she felt the same way he did, or was she thinking something entirely different. She was his best friend. She was also the girl who promised him marriage in second grade. But she was Peyton, the girl he'd known since age four. And she was the girl who kissed him on the first day of high school so he would get made fun of.

"I gotta go."

Brooke Davis had become a good friend to Peyton, but Peyton knew their friendship's limitations. While Peyton could confide in Haley and Lucas, she found it hard to confide in Brooke knowing that anything she might say could end up around the cheerleading squad and all of Tree Hill High later in the day.

"So, why won't you tell me?" she asks for the millionth time.

"Brooke, do we need to go through this again? Nathan and I broke up a month ago!"

"Yeah, I know, and your answer of the fact that you just weren't going anywhere doesn't satisfy me."

"Well, that's the answer that you're getting."

"But I'm not buying it Peyton! You're telling me that you date the guy for months and months and then all the sudden you both realized that it was over?"

"Yup."

"You're so lying!"

"Whatever…" Peyton says, turning back to her sketching as Brooke is thumbing through the latest CD purchases made by the blonde.

"Oh my God! It was the kiss!"

"What?" Peyton says, knowing exactly what she meant and hoping upon hope that Brooke didn't detect the panic in her eyes at the mention of what was the catalyst for her and Nathan's break up.

"You and Lucas kissing at the party! You totally broke up with Nathan because of Lucas!"

"Brooke, I didn't break up with Nathan, he didn't even break up with me… we both realized that it wasn't going to work out."

"Yeah, because Nathan saw you playing tonsil hockey with Lucas. I'm totally right, aren't I?"

"No, actually, you're totally wrong. You seriously need to get back with Jared."

"No, I'm done with him… I'm onto Trevor… and don't try to change the subject. You're totally in love with the other Scott brother."

Her mind was screaming that Brooke was in fact right, but her mouth spoke a lie. "Brooke, it isn't like that between me and Lucas. He's like a brother to me. We could never date like that."

The bad thing about lies is that they are always found out and they are always something that spreads quickly. For example, when you leave the door to your house open, anyone can walk in… and who wouldn't listen at the door when they heard their name mentioned.

He was glad the music was playing loud enough for him to escape unnoticed. Clearly, he was wrong about that light bulb in his head. He'd wait, because she said he'd eventually figure it out. He thought he had.


End file.
